COLUMBIA, S.C. — Former House Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday made a rare political endorsement of U.S. Rep. Tom Rice in a Congressional race that has him once again squaring off against former President Donald Trump and others in the GOP who are looking for “vengeance” against Republicans who impeached the former president last year.
It’s an inter-party battle, as Rice has said, between “nerds” like himself and Ryan who care about enacting conservative policy and “flamethrowers” who place allegiance to Trump over policy ideas and other convictions.
But that stance has placed Republicans like Rice, who’s represented South Carolina’s 7th district for a decade, and Ryan squarely in Trump’s cross hairs.
Ryan on Wednesday said he’s made his unfavorable views of Trump “very clear.”
Rice, meanwhile, drew Trump’s ire last year when he joined Democrats and nine other Republicans in voting to impeach Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol that left several dead. Rice has said he voted to impeach Trump because he felt he violated the U.S. Constitution.
But Ryan, one of Washington’s most powerful Republicans from October 2015 through the end of 2019, applauded Rice and other conservatives who — as Rice has argued — voted their conscious to impeach Trump.
“There were a lot of people who wanted to vote like Tom but who just didn’t have the guts to do it,” Ryan told a small crowd of supporters at Hotel Florence. “There are a lot of people who say they’re going to vote their conscious, they’re going to vote for the Constitution, they’re going to vote for their convictions but when it gets hard to do that they don’t do it.”
“Tom Rice is a man of conviction,” Ryan added. “Tom Rice is the kind of person you want in Congress.”
Ryan’s trip from Wisconsin to Florence marks the latest high-profile endorsement Rice has won as he seeks a sixth term in Congress. Rice, in April, earned the backing of former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who helped him raise funds in Myrtle Beach.
And, it’s the first endorsement Ryan has made in the 2022 primary elections. Ryan said he chose to endorse Rice in part because the two became friends serving on the House Ways and Means Committee — which controls the federal budget — and because Rice is a “work horse.”
Ryan added that endorsing Rice also meant he would square off against other conservatives seeking to enact Trump’s “vengeance” against those who impeached or criticized him.
“This is just such a crystal clear case where you have a hard working, effective, senior member of Congress who deserves reelection vs. people who are just trying to be celebrities who may be trying to help Trump with his vengeance,” Ryan said.
“That’s not who voters want, voters want people focused on their solutions not on Trump’s vengeance and that to me is a really clear cut case here,” he added.
But Rice’s vote to impeach Trump is exactly why he’s had to tap high-profile conservatives like Christie and Ryan as he seeks re-election.
The five-term congressman shocked constituents in January 2021 when he voted in favor of impeaching Trump. Both the Horry County and South Carolina GOP swiftly censured Rice for his vote, and challengers looking to unseat him began lining up almost immediately after the news broke.
Rice now faces a formidable challenge from South Carolina state Rep. Russell Fry, who won Trump’s backing in February. Trump then held a rally for both Fry and 1st District candidate Katie Arrington where the former president called Rice and similar Republicans “losers” who needed to be run out of office.
Rice has maintained a significant fundraising lead over Fry and his other challengers, but Fry’s campaign in recent weeks has cited internal polls showing them ahead of Rice.
Throughout his re-election bid, Rice has argued that Republicans ought to stick with Trump’s policy ideas but abandon the man himself. He’s argued that he voted for Trump’s policy priorities 94% of the time and was a key player in shaping the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, along with Ryan.
Ryan made a similar case on Wednesday, arguing that if Republicans are going to win control of the House and Senate in November, the party will need to be a “big tent party.” He described the disgruntlement of pro-Trump conservatives against so-called RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) as “growing pains.”
“We’re going through growing pains, that’s going to happen,” Ryan said. “But if you become a majority party you have to be a big tent party that can accommodate all different kinds of conservatives.”
Ryan differentiated between “show horses” and “work horses” in Congress and said he supported Rice because he was effective at working on policy that benefited his district.
Rice, as he’s sought re-election, has repeatedly highlighted the 7th District’s falling rate of unemployment, funding he’s won for farmers and beach renourishment and the Dillon Inland Port, a shipping and logistics hub in Dillon.
“I am here because this man is a work horse, I am here because Tom Rice is a loyal man,” Ryan said. “He is loyal to his constituents, he is loyal to his conscious, he is loyal to our founding principles and he is loyal to the Constitution.”
Rice, for his part, returned the praise, saying that his biggest accomplishments — including his contribution to the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act — were only possible because of Ryan being House Speaker.
“This guy right here, he’s a nerd like me,” Rice said. “He wants to solve problems.”
